A state of emergency was declared in Moldova for a period of two months. A decision to this effect was adopted by Parliament on March 31 by the votes of 52 MPs of the Party of Socialists and of the For Moldova platform that includes the MPs of the Shor Party. The opposition MPs criticized the executive for not presenting a set of concrete actions for overcoming the crisis, saying it is actually a plan for avoiding snap parliamentary elections. The PAS MPs proposed that the state of emergency should be declared for two weeks, but the proposal wasn’t backed, IPN reports.
Speaker Zinaida Grechanyi said that given that the Government is interim, the initiative to declare a state of emergency was put forward by a group of MPs – Vasile Bolea, Alexandr Suhodolski and Alla Dolință of the Party of Socialists.
Acting Prime Minister Aureliu Ciocoi said in Parliament that after examining the Ministry of Health’s report, they didn’t see another solution than asking Parliament to consider the possibility of declaring a state of emergency. The report makes reference to the negative dynamics of the epidemiological developments of the last two weeks. By March 28, Moldova has got 226,521 cases of COVID-19, almost 20,000 of which are now active. The number of new cases rose by over 30% during the last few weeks.
Aureliu Ciocoi didn’t present a concrete action plan that is to be implemented when the state of emergency is declared, but said that such a move will enable to enforce the current and future restrictions. The Commission for Exceptional Situations will be convened immediately and a plan of action will be presented in Parliament tomorrow.
Acting Minister of Justice Fadei Nagacevschi said the National Extraordinary Public Health Commission is a political body that includes representatives of the health system. This will manage the situation during the state of emergency. A common command center will be set up and this will consist of persons in epaulets.
MAP MP Mihai Popșoi said that two weeks ago, Igor Dodon, the leader of the PSRM of which the initiative authors form part, said there were no preconditions for declaring a state of emergency. Now that they saw that Parliament can be dissolved, they decided to take steps so as to prevent such a development.
PPPDA MP Alexandru Slusari stated that a new episode of the struggle for the rating and avoidance of responsibility is witnessed today. The Supreme Security Council noted the necessity of declaring a state of emergency, but the Socialists opposed. In 17 days, these changed places.
Democratic leader Pavel Filip noted that he spoke about the necessity of declaring a state of emergency, but based on a concrete plan of measures. In this case, it is a political plan for postponing the snap elections and this thing should be said openly as it is not necessarily bad.
Under the Constitution, Parliament cannot be dissolved during a state of emergency. Two days ago, President Maia Sandu requested the Constitutional Court to ascertain the circumstances for dissolving Parliament.
